Lao, a Sino-Tibetan language, is the national language of Laos. Though the term Sino-Tibetan would suggest a connection to China, the script resembles Thai script, and the language itself is also similar to Thai.

The Lao language and script are closely related to Thai. The Unicode standard encodes the Lao script in the same relative order as Thai. The Unicode encoding is based on TIS 620-2529.

A few letters in Lao have no match in Thai :
U+0EBB    Lao vowel sign mai kon
U+0EBC    Lao semivowel sign lo
U+0EBD    Lao semivowel sign nyo

The preceding two semivowel signs are the last remnants of the system of subscript medials, which in Myanmar also includes original rw. Myanmar and Khmer include a full set of subscript consonant forms used for conjuncts. Thai no longer uses any of these forms, Lao has just the two.

There are also two ligatures in the Unicode encoding for Lao : U+0EDC    Lao ho no and U+0EDD    Lao ho mo. They correspond to sequences of (h plus n) or (h plus m) without ligating. Their function is Lao is to provide versions of the n and m consonants with a different inherent tonal implication.


Unicode's Lao code block reserves the 128 code points from U+0E80 to U+0EFF, of which 65 are currently assigned.

Thai <-- Lao --> Tibetan

All the characters in this code block were added in Unicode 1.1

Number of characters in each General Category :

Letter, Modifier       Lm :  1
Letter, Other          Lo : 39
Mark, Non-Spacing      Mn : 15
Number, Decimal Digit  Nd : 10

Number of characters in each Bidirectional Category :

Left To Right       L : 50
Non Spacing Mark  NSM : 15

The columns below should be interpreted as :

  1. The Unicode code for the character
  2. The character in question
  3. The Unicode name for the character
  4. The Unicode General Category for the character
  5. The Unicode Bidirectional Category for the character

If the characters below show up poorly, or not at all, see Unicode Support for possible solutions.

 

Lao

     Consonants

U+0E81   ກ   Lao letter ko Lo L
aka ko kay
U+0E82   ຂ   Lao letter kho sung Lo L
aka kho khay
U+0E84   ຄ   Lao letter kho tam Lo L
aka kho khuay
U+0E87   ງ   Lao letter ngo Lo L
aka ngo ngu, ngo ngua
U+0E88   ຈ   Lao letter co Lo L
aka co cok, co cua
U+0E8A   ຊ   Lao letter so tam Lo L
aka so sang
U+0E8D   ຍ   Lao letter nyo Lo L
aka nyo nyung
U+0E94   ດ   Lao letter do Lo L
aka do dek
U+0E95   ຕ   Lao letter to Lo L
aka to ta
U+0E96   ຖ   Lao letter tho sung Lo L
aka tho thong
U+0E97   ທ   Lao letter tho tam Lo L
aka tho thung
U+0E99   ນ   Lao letter no Lo L
aka no nok
U+0E9A   ບ   Lao letter bo Lo L
aka bo be, bo bet
U+0E9B   ປ   Lao letter po Lo L
aka po pa
U+0E9C   ຜ   Lao letter pho sung Lo L
aka pho pheng
U+0E9D   ຝ   Lao letter fo tam Lo L
aka fo fa
* name is a mistake for fo sung
U+0E9E   ພ   Lao letter pho tam Lo L
aka pho phu
U+0E9F   ຟ   Lao letter fo sung Lo L
* name is a mistake for fo tam
U+0EA1   ມ   Lao letter mo Lo L
aka mo mew, mo ma
U+0EA2   ຢ   Lao letter yo Lo L
aka yo ya
U+0EA3   ຣ   Lao letter lo ling Lo L
aka ro rot
* name is a mistake, lo ling is the mnemonic for 0EA5
U+0EA5   ລ   Lao letter lo loot Lo L
aka lo ling
* name is a mistake, lo loot is the mnemonic for 0EA3
U+0EA7   ວ   Lao letter wo Lo L
aka wo wi
U+0EAA   ສ   Lao letter so sung Lo L
aka so sya
U+0EAB   ຫ   Lao letter ho sung Lo L
aka ho hay, ho han
U+0EAD   ອ   Lao letter O Lo L
aka o o
U+0EAE   ຮ   Lao letter ho tam Lo L
aka ho hya, ho hyan

     Sign

U+0EAF   ຯ   Lao ellipsis Lo L

     Vowels

U+0EB0   ະ   Lao vowel sign a Lo L
U+0EB1   ັ   Lao vowel sign mai kan Mn NSM
* vowel shortener
U+0EB2   າ   Lao vowel sign aa Lo L
U+0EB3   ຳ   Lao vowel sign am Lo L
U+0EB4   ິ   Lao vowel sign i Mn NSM
U+0EB5   ີ   Lao vowel sign ii Mn NSM
U+0EB6   ຶ   Lao vowel sign y Mn NSM
U+0EB7   ື   Lao vowel sign yy Mn NSM
U+0EB8   ຸ   Lao vowel sign u Mn NSM
U+0EB9   ູ   Lao vowel sign uu Mn NSM
U+0EBB   ົ   Lao vowel sign mai kon Mn NSM
aka mai kong

     Signs

U+0EBC   ຼ   Lao semivowel sign lo Mn NSM
U+0EBD   ຽ   Lao semivowel sign nyo Lo L
aka nyo fyang

     Vowels

U+0EC0   ເ   Lao vowel sign e Lo L
U+0EC1   ແ   Lao vowel sign ei Lo L
U+0EC2   ໂ   Lao vowel sign o Lo L
U+0EC3   ໃ   Lao vowel sign ay Lo L
aka mai muan
U+0EC4   ໄ   Lao vowel sign ai Lo L
aka mai may

     Sign

U+0EC6   ໆ   Lao ko la Lm L
* repetition

     Tone marks

U+0EC8   ່   Lao tone mai ek Mn NSM
U+0EC9   ້   Lao tone mai tho Mn NSM
U+0ECA   ໊   Lao tone mai ti Mn NSM
U+0ECB   ໋   Lao tone mai catawa Mn NSM

     Signs

U+0ECC   ໌   Lao cancellation mark Mn NSM
U+0ECD   ໍ   Lao niggahita Mn NSM
* final nasal or long o vowel

     Digits

U+0ED0   ໐   Lao digit zero Nd L
U+0ED1   ໑   Lao digit one Nd L
U+0ED2   ໒   Lao digit two Nd L
U+0ED3   ໓   Lao digit three Nd L
U+0ED4   ໔   Lao digit four Nd L
U+0ED5   ໕   Lao digit five Nd L
U+0ED6   ໖   Lao digit six Nd L
U+0ED7   ໗   Lao digit seven Nd L
U+0ED8   ໘   Lao digit eight Nd L
U+0ED9   ໙   Lao digit nine Nd L

     Digraphs

U+0EDC   ໜ   Lao ho no Lo L
U+0EDD   ໝ   Lao ho mo Lo L

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